How can I show a video to my students over Google Meet?

For the best picture and sound quality, post a link to the video in the chat window of Google Meet and ask your students to click the link, view the video, and return to the Google Meet afterwards.

However, if your students watch a video and you want to show clips from that video during lecture, you can take advantage of a feature Google recently added to Meet that allows you to share a video with your students.  You can use this feature for longer videos, but the quality of the video may be degraded by the students' internet connections.

You'll need to be running Chrome in order to take advantage of this:

1. Open your video (without playing it yet) in a separate tab.  You might want to do this before the meeting begins, just to have it ready.
   
2. When you're ready to play the video, mute your microphone.  The audio from the video will come directly from the tab, and any sound from your mic will make the audio from the video cut out.  (Obviously, feel free to unmute if you need to make commentary on the video and you don't mind preempting its audio.)
3. In Google Meet, click Present now and choose A Chrome tab from the menu.
   
4. Choose the tab with the video, make sure Share audio is checked, and click the blue Share button.
   
5. Switch to the tab with the video.  You'll see a message saying that you're sharing it in Google Meet.
   
6. Play your video.  If you click the "full screen" option, it will take up the entire tab and make the video easier for your students to see.
   

I am trying to upload a large file to Moodle and it won't let me! What should I do?

Large files, such as video files, cannot be uploaded to Moodle directly.  Instead, they should be stored in Google Drive and then added to Moodle as a URL link or embedded within a Moodle Page.

Directions for uploading files to Google and linking to these files in your Moodle course can be found in these tutorials:

Uploading and Sharing a Video in Google Drive (can be adapted for other file types)

Embedding Videos and Other Content into Moodle

Student Collaboration and Interaction with the Student Folder Plugin in Moodle

We've recently installed several new plugins for Moodle in order to make it easier to use and to extend its capabilities.  In this post we'll highlight Student Folder, a plugin that allows your students to share files with one another.

Moodle already allows you to create folder for your students containing documents and other resources.  Using Student Folder, you also create a folder that your students can access.  However, when setting up the folder, you can choose for it to be populated in one of two ways:

• Students can upload files to it, and other students can then access those files.  You have the option to serve as a moderator to vet student submissions.
• The folder is linked to an assignment, and you choose which student submissions are also made available via the folder.  Optionally, students can give their permission for assignments to be made available to their peers.

Use the Student Folder as part of a peer review activity, to facilitate team-based learning, or as a way for students to share resources they've found online.  For full instructions on using the Student Folder plugin, see this guide on the Moodle Training Course.